1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a mobile terminal and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a mobile terminal with location-based provisioning for license keys of software and/or hardware features and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, computing devices can be thought of as falling into two classes: fixed and mobile. Fixed terminals are generally incorporated into stationary objects (such as point of sale systems and walls). Mobile terminals have similar electronic configurations as compared to fixed devices, but are mechanically designed to be carried around by a user or mounted on movable objects (such as cars, carts, and fork lifts). For example, the mobile terminal may be a navigation system, a phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a portable data terminal (PDT).
Recently, computing devices have been equipped with internal or external Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. The GPS receiver dynamically provides location, direction, and/or speed information of the computing device at any given time. In particular, the location information takes the form of a coordinate pair (latitude and longitude). The location information is then displayed to a user, or otherwise used in the computing device. For example, the location information can be input to an executing software program to load nearby restaurants and attractions.
However, the location information does not control a licensing (i.e., a permission to use) of the computing device or hardware and software features thereof. Rather, license keys control a licensing of a software or hardware feature installed in a computing device. In particular, the software or hardware feature is installed in the terminal, and a permission to use the software or hardware feature is granted with a proper license key.
The license key may be transmitted to the computing device in a variety ways (for example, provisioned via a network from a license key server). However, after the license key is received by the computing device, using the license key to permit use of the corresponding hardware or software feature is generally unrestricted. For example, a software manufacturer is unable to control a use of its software according to the location of a computing device that executes the software. Accordingly, there is a need for a method of controlling a use of a software or hardware feature of a computing device according to a location of the software or hardware feature.